Please contact our office to confirm your appointment request here Thank you

Skip to main content

Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery

Steel City Spine and Orthopedic Center

Spine & Orthopedic Surgeon in Pittsburgh, PA, McKees Rocks, PA, Washington, PA and South Florida, FL

Minimally invasive spine surgery (MISS) can help you avoid the pain, scarring, and prolonged healing time needed after open surgery. If you have back or neck pain and other treatments haven’t relieved your pain, minimally invasive spine surgery specialist Jocelyn Idema, DO, at Steel City Spine and Orthopedic Center can help. Dr. Idema performs cutting-edge surgeries like spine decompression and disc replacement using minimally invasive techniques wherever possible. Call one of our convenience offices in Pittsburgh, McKees Rocks, or Washington, Pennsylvania, today.  We also offer convenient online appointment requests.  Please scroll to the bottom of our webpage to book an appointment using the online forms.

Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery

What is minimally invasive spine surgery?

Minimally invasive spine surgery (MISS) is an approach to surgery that avoids making large incisions that are typically used in traditional open surgery.

Instead, Dr. Idema makes one or more very small incisions. She then puts specialized instruments into the small incisions she has made, using state-of-the-art imaging technologies to guide her.

Performing minimally invasive spine surgery requires advanced surgical skills. Dr. Idema is a highly experienced practitioner with considerable expertise in carrying out these challenging and intricate operations.

What are the advantages of minimally invasive spine surgery?

Minimally invasive spine surgery has numerous advantages when compared with open surgery. Key advantages include:

  • Reduced pain
  • Less blood loss
  • Lower risk of infections
  • Less chance of complications
  • Much smaller scars
  • Shorter hospital stay
  • Quicker recovery

Open spine surgery requires making extensive incisions that cause significant trauma to the surrounding muscles. Using minimally invasive techniques means Dr. Idema can reduce the length of the incisions to about an inch on average.

While minimally invasive spine surgery is the preferred option for patients whenever possible, there are circumstances when open surgery is a better choice. Dr. Idema discusses this with you before your operation.

What are the types of minimally invasive surgery?

Dr. Idema can use minimally invasive techniques for numerous spinal surgeries. Minimally invasive decompression surgery, for instance, includes procedures such as:

  • Discectomy
  • Microdiscectomy
  • Foraminotomy
  • Laminectomy
  • Laminotomy

In these procedures, Dr. Idema removes tissue or bone that’s causing nerve compression in your spine. Common causes of nerve compression include disc herniations, osteoarthritis in the facet joints, and bone spurs.

Minimally invasive stabilization surgery involves removing an intervertebral disc that isn’t suitable for repair and replacing it with an artificial disc. Bone grafts and spinal fusion were standard approaches until recently, but artificial discs have the advantage that they give the ability to move more naturally.

Dr. Idema is fellowship-trained in minimally invasive spine surgery and specializes in motion preservation — making sure you retain as much flexibility in your spine as possible. She is also one of the few spine surgeons carrying out lumbar disc replacements by using an advanced preserving technique.

Minimally invasive spine surgery is a safer and better-tolerated approach for suitable patients. Find out more by calling Steel City Spine and Orthopedic Center today, or you can book an appointment online.